Tuesday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 3/12/2013

Employers post more jobs, cut fewer workers

U.S. employers advertised more job openings in January, suggesting that hiring will remain healthy in the coming months. There were other positive signs: Employers laid off the fewest workers in January than in any month since records began in 2001. And the number of Americans quitting their jobs rose to the highest in more than four years, suggesting it is easier to find work. Read more from the AP and see state numbers from Gov. Scott's office.

Retired teachers living in Florida still a force for the union

Florida retirees are part of the “daytime union” for the New York-based United Federation of Teachers. Even when they live far from New York City, the UFT’s 60,000 retiree members staunchly defend the union they helped shape in the 1960s and 1970s, and they volunteer in droves when the union mobilizes its members to support candidates or lobby on education or healthcare. More from the Hechinger Report and StateImpact Florida.

Big Medicaid gamble based on letter

Business Profile

Gear 1 Music

From Mozart to Metallica, business for Kenny Stinnett is all about music. At his Gear 1 Music warehouse in Panama City’s downtown, he and eight employees package and ship up to 300 orders daily — ranging from instruments to motion picture sound tracks. Nearly 20% of his orders are international.

Florida's Republican legislative leaders say they believe they can get full federal funding for Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, even though they propose to use it to buy subsidized private health insurance. If they are wrong, they will be giving up a huge windfall of federal funding, which state economists last week estimated at $51 billion over the next decade. More at Health News Florida.

Nursing homes brace for the "nightmare bacteria"

Longterm care facilities are bracing for what federal health officials call a "nightmare" drug-resistant bacteria that kills almost half of those it infects, after officials received a strongly worded advisory last week. A new report showed cases of the bacteria soared five-fold in 10 years and spread from one state to 42. It is believed to have caused 17 South Florida deaths. More at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Column: Take aim at a small-business job differently

Looking for a job? Well, as someone who’s been hiring recently, I’ve got some tips for you — especially if you are applying at a small business. Small businesses account for about half of all jobs in the United States and create 65 percent of the new jobs. But getting a job at a small business takes a slightly different mindset than applying at a huge corporation. More at Florida Today.

Nonprofit Trends Arts Education

For most nonprofits in South Florida, raising $20 million for a new building in today's slow economy would be an uphill battle, or maybe impossible. But Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach has done just that. Saturday, it debuted the new Campus on the Lake, a cultural center that will offer classes and lectures in everything from art to opera to cooking, many of them geared to baby-boomers and retirees.